Premier-designate Rachel Notley will be sworn in and announce her cabinet on Sunday, but she’s already said that she will be sticking to the promises she made during her election campaign.
One such promise is a huge jump in Alberta’s minimum wage, bringing it up from $10.20 per hour to $15 per hour.
The move would vault the province into the top spot of minimum wages across the country.
Notley says her government will be bringing the proposal to legislature during the fall sitting.
According to government stats, only 1.5 percent of workers in Alberta make the minimum wage.
Businesses, meanwhile, are very cool to the idea of the hike, especially during the current economic climate.
Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi says that there are some companies that likely couldn’t handle such a big jump.
“The challenge is that as we are going into an economic downturn. Is this the right moment to be doing that? Because for every Tim Horton's or McDonald's that can probably with some difficulty absorb that increase, you have a small family-run restaurant that can't.”
Ontario and Nunavut have the highest minimum wages in Canada right now, at $11 per hour.
Current minimum wages in Canada
- Alberta --- $10.20
- British Columbia --- $10.25 (will increase to $10.45 on September 15)
- Manitoba --- $10.70
- New Brunswick --- $10.30
- Newfoundland and Labrador --- $10.25
- Northwest Territories --- $10.00 (will increase to $12.50 on June 1)
- Nova Scotia --- $10.60
- Nunavut --- $11.00
- Ontario --- $11.00
- Prince Edward Island --- $10.20 (will increase to $10.50 on July 1)
- Quebec --- $10.55
- Saskatchewan --- $10.20
- Yukon --- $10.86
